The Best Board Games for Two-Year-Olds
How soon is too soon to start a family game night tradition? Kids as young as two years old can begin playing board games with you and practicing their skills for family games nights!
Besides having fun and connecting with you, toddlers will learn various skills while playing games like taking turns, following the rules, and problem-solving. With many games, they will get some wiggles out. And for others, they will be introduced to winning and losing, mainly as a team.
We pulled together a list of our favorite board games for two-year-olds, all with games we’ve played with our kids! Check out our top picks below, and drop us a comment with your favorites too.
See our favorite board games for kids of all ages in our Family Game Night Hub.
Where’s Bear? Stacking Block Game
This colorful game combines two activities toddlers love: stacking blocks and finding objects. These activities seem simple but actually support huge learning milestones (object permanence, problem-solving using hands, spatial concepts like up, down, top, bottom; and sorting, classifying, matching).
The game is in a find and seek format featuring a fun character (we 100% support roaring like a bear with your child), which little kids always enjoy. Each box is a different location in Bear’s house. One player hides Bear under one of the six boxes, and the other player finds Bear.
As a bonus, there is a matching game on the boxes, too.
Acorn Soup Counting Game
In this game of pretend play, you and your child will help Squirrel make his soups by following recipe cards. You’ll identify the ingredients, add them to the pot one by one, and stir them up.
This is the age where toddlers love to help around the house, so they’ll be eager to use the wooden spoon to balance ingredients—they won’t even notice they’re working on balance, hand-eye coordination, and following instructions.
First Orchard Cooperative Board Game
HABA is one of the OGs of kids’ games. From Germany, this cooperative game teaches players to work as a team to pick all the fruits from the trees before the raven reaches the end of its path. Toddlers will have fun rolling the dice to see if they get to pick a fruit from the tree or move the raven forward one spot.
Toddlers develop social skills like taking turns and following directions while the game also reinforces color recognition, quantities, and counting by ones. The best part is teams win together and lose together, which teaches early teamwork.
Roll and Play
Featured on The View as one of the best toddler games, Roll and Play will hold your two-year-old’s attention for at least five minutes. In toddler world, that’s saying something.
Roll the big plush cube, select a card with a matching color, then act out what’s on the card. Each color is a different category—actions, colors, animal sounds, counting, body parts, and emotions. Examples include hop four times, find something green, make an angry face, or squeak like a mouse.
Don’t be surprised if you’re having as much fun as your little is with this one!
Monkey Around Game
Monkey Around with your mini with this simple, cooperative game! You’ll teach your toddler to take a card from the pile and do the action. Actions include balancing a banana on your shoulder, shaking hands, and walking on your tippy-toes.
After you complete the action, place the card on the tree. Once all five spots are full, you have finished the game!
Bears in Pairs First Memory & Matching Game
In an adorable and interactive twist on a hide-and-seek matching game, get down on the floor with your two-year-old to play Bears in Pairs. This super-cute game comes with three pairs of matching bears and a house. There are multiple ways to play that get more challenging, but with each variation, you take turns finding the bear matches in the house.
You might have so much fun with this one your toddler will be the one telling you it’s time to pause for a snack.
Scavenger Hunt at Home
As parents, we often run out of ideas about how to entertain our two-year-olds (especially during a global pandemic that’s kept us inside for over a year), so fresh takes on a Scavenger Hunt at Home is a very welcome addition to our parents/teacher/entertainer toolkit. Plus, toddlers love scavenger hunts!
This set of twenty double-sided cards features simple prompts to guide your toddler to find everyday objects in your home. There’s an outdoor version, too, so whether you’re inside or out, you’ll be able to keep their brains—and their little hands—busy in the best ways possible.
Here Fishy, Fishy Magnetic Fishing Game
Help your two-year-old further develop fine motor skills with Here Fishy, Fishy Magnetic Fishing Game. They’ll be tasked with rolling the dice, using the magnetic fishing rod to pick up the fish that’s the same color they rolled, and, if caught successfully, they’ll win a fish piece to place in their collecting board. The first to collect all five wins!
Mindware Seek-a-Boo Game
We can’t speak for you, but at Thrifty Littles, we sure do love a large, laminated card moment. MindWare’s Seek-a-Boo game has a bunch of them! This is a memory and matching game with six categories (toys, clothing, animals, outdoors, shapes, food), each with a different color. Show your child the “find me” cards and have them match them on the large “seek me” cards.
This game builds vocabulary and works on memory. From switching roles to creating your own combinations, the play possibilities are endless with Seek-a-Boo!
Pick up a game from this list? Show us! We’re @thriftylittles on Instagram.
If you liked this post, you might like these too:
